Good morning. Here’s your Daily Situational Awareness for Thursday, 03 February 2022. You can receive this daily briefing by signing up at https://forwardobserver.com/daily-sa
TODAY’S BRIEFING:
- Congress seeks to ban Chinese drones
- Facebook hands over user data for political insult
- TikTok & YouTube rated worst for privacy
- House to vote on China competition bill
- Hazards Warning
SITUATIONAL AWARENESS
CONGRESS SEEKS TO BAN CHINESE DRONES: Rep. Stefanik (R-NY) introduced a bill in Congress to ban Chinese-made DJI drones. The two-page bill would expand the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act from 2019 to ban any Shenzhen Da-Jiang Innovations Sciences and Technologies Company or subsidiary products. Federal Communications Commissioner Carr said, “U.S. intelligence services have warned that DJI poses a serious national security threat due to the level of sensitive information it collects and the potential for Beijing to access that data. (AC: China’s use of unrestricted warfare allows it to leverage consumer devices for intelligence purposes. Chinese-owned technology often serves a dual purpose, for consumer use and government surveillance. Widespread use of DJI products has likely resulted in pattern of life development, infrastructure targeting, and observation of U.S. military training and facilities. The bill could be included as an amendment to build bipartisan support for other China legislation, at a minimum expect Chinese tech bills to be in focus in a Republican controlled Congress. – D.M.)
FACEBOOK HANDS OVER USER DATA FOR POLITICAL INSULT: A German court has ordered Facebook to divulge the personal data of users who insulted a politician. The German politician identified 22 insulting comments on Facebook and asked the company to provide her with the authors data so she could sue them. German law allows policing users’ speech on the internet. (AC: Freedom of speech and privacy laws aren’t as robust in Europe as in the U.S.; however, the fundamental pressures to silence hate speech or extremist views on social media platforms exist across the West. As domestic extremism is seen as the number one threat to the U.S., expect pressure on social media platforms to censor or “moderate” speech to continue. Facebook remains active in lobbying Congress to update the Communications and Decency Act of 1996, raising concerns of a similar future in America. – D.F.)
TIKTOK & YOUTUBE WORST FOR PRIVACY: New study results show that TikTok and YouTube allow the most first and third-party trackers to collect user data. Social media applications average 6 trackers; however, YouTube contains 10 first-party and 4 third-party trackers, while 13 of TikTok’s 14 trackers led to third-party domains. The third-party tracks are particularly concerning due to visibility limits for who is receiving the data. (AC: Metadata collected by private companies continues to be profitable while exploiting the privacy information of users. TikTok has particularly been shown to be a security risk due to its connections to the Chinese Communist Party. The need for tools, such as VPNs, will continue to become more necessary to retain privacy online. – D.F.)
HOUSE TO VOTE ON CHINA COMPETITION BILL: House Democrats are set to vote on a bill which would allocate $52 billion to support a domestic semiconductor industry within the U.S. and another $45 billion to address supply disruptions. Republicans are opposed to the bill because they say it is designed to look tough on China without actually addressing intellectual property theft and corporate transfers of U.S. technology to China. While the bill allocates significant funding to support domestic semiconductor manufacturing it doesn’t prevent the money from indirectly supporting U.S. corporations which manufacture semiconductors in China or prevent the transfer to China of U.S. technology developed under the bill’s programs. The bill is set for a procedural vote on the House floor on Wednesday with a vote on passage likely on Friday. (AC: The bill would be a good start if it incorporated provisions which protected U.S. intellectual property and prevented the money and technology from ending up in Chinese hands. Politicians on both sides of the aisle are seemingly hesitant to defend U.S. interests against China in a manner which could draw a rebuke from the Chinese Communist Party. This is likely due to the fact that a significant portion of the political donor-class, as well many Congressional Representatives and Senators, have financial interests in China. -M.M.)
HAZARDS/WX:
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